I missed this one but I wouldn't have been able to see it, anyway. Sacramento played a rerun of an old episode, apparently. They didn't want to unfairly give Al Sharpton move TV time than other Democratic candidates. Eh, okay.

12-08-2003, 11:33 PM

PSi

If you think about it, it really is pointless to worry about the equal time rules
because-
a) they'd get the midnight time slot, a time which very few people are up
or
B) they'd become hosts for SNL, and considering the little amount of time they have left, taking a week off is career suicide.

Also, i'm glad you enjoyed my reviews.

12-09-2003, 06:44 PM

charlottej

I liked the Jeff Gordon episode. Once he got over his nerves in the beginning, I thought he was good. Especially the Rickye Funk skit. HILARIOUS!!!

12-10-2003, 04:34 PM

karna68

Did anyone happen to catch the Christmas special? Horatio, Jimmy and Chris and someone else were doing this song I thought was hilarious. Horatio had glasses on and was playing this funny looking guitar. I would like to see it again.

12-14-2003, 10:22 AM

PSi

PSi's Review 12/13 Elijah Wood

Episode VIII: Elijah Wood and Jet

<B> Opening Words </B>

Jet sucks. Listen to classic rock instead. It’s the same stuff. Really. I don’t know. I hope it’s a good show. I don’t know what to expect, so who knows…which I guess is a good thing.

<B> Beforehand </b>

nothing. I got nothing. Celts got a nice winning streak going though.

<B> Cold Opening </b> Hardball

Finally, Hammond goes back to what he does best. I always like this sketch, and was not disappointed there. But it seems like Amy always plays the same type of character. *shrugs* More of the same with Hammond bashing the others. A bit long for my taste though especially for the cold opening.

Actors: Hammond, Parnell, Amy, Kenan
Best Line: Hammond: ..Is an actual candidate who has about as much chance to win the white house as Carol Mosley Brawn. Here’s Carol Mosley Brawn.
Length: 5.22
Rating: 8/10

<B> Monologue </B>
What a surprise, Kattan returns…his career is sure taking off. I think I’m the only person in America who hasn’t seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies, so the character is a tad bit lost of me, but I know enough to say that Kattan forgot how to do the voice as he just slipped into his goth character voice. The voice was better during the super bowl halftime special, the acting was better during the super bowl special. Eh. But I did like the sitcom scenes. A couple points of that
Notice how its 2 shows since a regular cast member was in the monologue. Also, why would gollum say that Tina Fey is the only good cast member? She’s not even a real cast member. All she does is Weekend Update…and not very well I might add.

Actors: --
Best Line: -- the best part was the sitcom promo.
Length: 3.50
Rating:6/10

And they spare us the commercial, because it’s probably from 2 years ago…

<B> St. Paul’s Holiday Choral Concert </B>

Wow, Will gets the first sketch out.
This seems to have Slovin and Allen written over this. ..but the premise seems vaguely similar to that of the Alec Baldwin zinger sketch…hmmm…a sing off? I have that déjà vu feeling. It was funny when they did the high voices, but then kept going, then you figured out what would happen after the first time after a while. But the kept dragging it out. Then it lost its appeal, and kept going and going and going. I actually expected it would be Forte who would lose his voice, but

Actors: Kenan, Forte, Jimmy,
Best Line: Jimmy: Thanks to this voice I get all the tang I want and of the poon variety.
Length: 5.10
Rating: 4/10

1/10/04 Jennifer Aniston and Black Eyed Peas…

<B> Queer Eye for the Straight Guy</b>

I, like many, am not a fan of this show. I, like others, were very squirmish when I saw Horatio and Jimmy together. I, like others, was amazed that they didn’t laugh at each other. Hopefully they’re over it. Jimmy’s gay guy sounds a lot like his Access Hollywood’s O’Brien. And I can only hope that I, like others, thought this wasn’t good at all.
But it was one of things where the premise was good, but failed miserably in execution.

Isn’t the last time we saw a smigel cartoon was the first episode? I wonder why the big layoff? Busy being Triumph I guess. Either a) the guy who was in charge of dubbing the laughter went overboard or b) the crowd was watching something completely different than I. It wasn’t particularly good, but it fit the mold of all the other Fun with Real Audios. So I guess continuity gives it a solid 6.

Actors:
Best Line: n/a
Length: 2.50
Rating: 6/10

<B> Wake Up Wakefield </B>

It was only a matter of time before they dug this sketch up. It seems different this year. It seems more public access with the seemingly more dead silence and stumbling over words…which for once seemed to be part of this sketch. The pacing was really dull on this one. Maybe its the layoff, maybe its that I think this bit is overrated. *Shrugs* Wasn’t that bad, but it isn’t deserving of the 9’s I’ll probably be seeing. And waay too long.

Actors: Maya, Dratch, Horatio
Best Line: Maya: Whoa, that [trumpet sound] sounds like a real horse. (wasn’t really anything good from this IMO, but the timing was down on this one.)
Length: 6.15
Rating: 5/10

<B> Performance </B> Jet

Jet sucks. They’re not original. Not in the least. I know a person who likes them, but not Creedence and Skynyrd. How? It’s the same thing. All I have to do is go “oh, check out the Skyn. They kick ass.” Maybe a month ago, I remember the local radio station began to play them. One DJ said “hey, coming up next we got a new band, Jet. They sound like the strokes, but they’re from Australia, so I guess that makes them different.” Need I say more?

Why don’t they just call Fear Factor ‘who wants to eat some weird shxt’ because is it really anything else?

<B> Weekend Update </B>

I read somewhere that if you pick up on things you more you obsess about it, because its so apparent to you. Like Tina Fey laughing at her OWN STUPID JOKES. Some people like it. Jimmy does a John Mayer holiday song bit. Good thing Jimmy points out that all he does is make incoherent noises, but regardless, I want to bash his head in.
Tina goes on a American Corporations rebuilding Iraq tirade…which doesn’t make any sense because if you’re a CEO in any country, you’re going to be all high and mighty. Yeah, Helmut Shmidt was on the front lines freeing the Iraqis. Argh! Stupid Tina! Learn what you rant about.
The Morning after pill bit was funny, but not the Jimmy explains what you’ve done. Maya comes out as Whitney, Kenan as their daughter. They sing, Whitney steals the spotlight, Finesse comes out as Bobby…I expected more from that.
Jimmy’s pencil curves big time to the right, and he knew he missed that one.
I don’t know. I wasn’t overly impressed with this week’s WU, usually the score that brings up the ratings, just didn’t have the oomph that it usually has going for it.
But seriously, just shut up Tina. Save us all some trouble…or think about what you’re going to rant about.

Donatella sells her Egg Nog. The premise was rather thin. Horatio stumbles over his one line. I find that the Versace sketches are a crapshoot, no middle ground. This one leans towards just plain bad as it seemed almost thrown together at the last minute. No great one liner and than that…it just wasn’t that good at her usual show sketches…just look back to the hot pockets skit from last year. But an extra point for Elijah’s boy george nog singing and a point for Horatio downing all that nog.

Actors: Maya, Horatio
Best Line: --
Length: 3.20
Rating: 5/10

<B> Dean for President 2004 </b>

Hammond goes back to another impersonation that he can do. Please stay away from anything Republican. This bit wasn’t that funny. Ok, Gore’s over the top and Dean’s trying to backtrack…ha ha ha ha ha. Yawn. Nothing special for this one. Way too long.

What a tease. They showed his graphic then back to another commercial break. Very tricky SNL. Ok, who wasn’t ready? Horatio and Jimmy, I’m looking in your direction. I wonder why? I don’t even know if you’re in the next sketch, I just have that hunch.

<B> Rialto Grand Casino Buddy Mills</B>

Kattan comes back for Buddy Mills, arguably the worst of his mostly awful characters. I guess Chris’ career is really taking off if he’s back for a second time. I wonder who’s rustling around behind the curtains. Why is everyone laughing at this drivel? Maybe everything is funnier at12.45AM. As for me, I don’t get slaphappy at this hour, I just get bitter and tired. Right when I begin to think I could find this funny, I lost the feeling again. Ok, I did crack a smile at the drum bit after Elijah said he loves his mom. So a point for that. That’s it. I know I said way too long for a lot of things, but this could have done without 2 or 3 minutes.

Actors: Jimmy, Fred, Dratch, Amy, Maya, Tina
Best Line: Kattan: My wife tried to wear a thong. It looked like a book mark in war and peace
Length: 7.30
Rating: 4/10

<B> Performance 2 </B>

the lead singer of jet does his best to look like Liam Gallagher or Oasis. Wonnn-derrr-wall. Is the rhythm guitarist wearing a girls shirt? Ugh. Ok, you’re at 12 minutes jet…3 more minutes then go home and hang out with the other one hit wonders, which are too many to name.

And that takes us to 12.56…I doubt they can fit in a commercial break, a sketch, and a cutoff ending. They need to plug fear factor more. I’m kind of disappointed with them ending with Jet’s crappy alternative performance.

And they end the show with them skating…I did not expect that at all, bu tit is funny to see that Finesse can’t skate at all. Ok, that’s nice and all, but…eh…There goes seth falling and oh, poor Finesse.
And wow, we get all the credits. . . and no fear factor or friends commercials at the end. Sweet.

<B> Overall </B>

This was not a memorable episode either way. It only had 10 sketches total with one being a cartoon and no current cast members in the monologue. A Lot of the sketches were long. No commercials. Wasn’t much of anything. It’s not that they phoned it in like so many other episodes this year, it was just blah. I doubt this will be winning any awards at the end of the year. Look at all the ratings, they’re were all 4-6’s. Usually it’s a couple of 8’s and a couple of 3’s. Just average.

<B> Overall Rating: 50/100 (5/10) </b>
Felt Like 5

Performer of the Night: Kenan stepped it up yet again. Very impressed. Plus its sad that a ‘featured’ member has been in more things than four fulltime cast members (Tina does not count)
Worst of the Night: Seth Myers. Not only did he not do much, but his one line in Queer Eye…wasn’t that good.

Tina goes on a American Corporations rebuilding Iraq tirade…which doesn’t make any sense because if you’re a CEO in any country, you’re going to be all high and mighty. Yeah, Helmut Shmidt was on the front lines freeing the Iraqis. Argh! Stupid Tina! Learn what you rant about.

Psi I thought her rant was valid and the point that you made was exactly the point she was making (tongue in cheek of course)
We're awarding lucrative contracts to only those who helped with the war ... well the gov't financed it but the only people who will make any money on it are the fat cat businessmen.. what makes them so deserving? The money is not going back to the troops who laid their lives on the line, so how can the President justify it?

I totally agree with the rest of your synopsis.. I did like Jet.. but thats because I'm old and a classic rock fan. :)

12-14-2003, 08:46 PM

football_chick

As usual - Great review PSi! I feel asleep during the Weekend Update which pretty much explains my feelings on this week's show.

signed "The only OTHER person who hasn't seen any of the LOTR films" :)

12-16-2003, 02:14 PM

mrdobolina

Thanks for the review, PSI! I thought this ep was much better than last weeks. I like their "Queer Eye" skits, but I also really like the show.

I usually TiVo SNL, and then when a skit isn't funny, or is going on for too long....ZAP....I skip ahead. I almost always skip the band performances. I can watch SNL in 30 minutes!!

12-17-2003, 12:07 AM

PSi

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrdobolina

I almost always skip the band performances. I can watch SNL in 30 minutes!!

The show is, not including performances, about 52-58 minutes long. So that's a good half of the show your'e getting rid of :)

12-17-2003, 10:52 AM

Terena79

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrdobolina

I usually TiVo SNL, and then when a skit isn't funny, or is going on for too long....ZAP....I skip ahead. I almost always skip the band performances. I can watch SNL in 30 minutes!!

Same here. I fast forward through the band, most political sketches and the commercials.